Performing Process for Removal Medium

ABSTRACT

In a controller of a tape drive, when an error recovery section cannot recover an error detected by an error detecting section, an error-report generation section generates an error report, an error-information acquisition section acquires error information of the tape drive and a cartridge loaded in the tape drive, an error-information exchange section acquires pieces of error information of other tape drives and cartridges loaded in these other tape drives, an error-factor judging section judges whether the error is attributable to the tape drive or the cartridge based on these pieces of error information, an error-report update section updates the error report in accordance with the result of this judgment, and an error-report output section outputs the error report thus updated to a host.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to mechanisms for performing a process fora removable medium. Particularly, the present invention relates tomechanisms for performing a process for a removable medium in a drivefor driving the removable medium.

In a drive using a removable medium such as a tape medium, when an errorof writing of data on a medium or reading out of data from a mediumoccurs, it is not easy to judge whether the error occurs due to thedrive or the medium. A conceivable reason thereof is that the occurrencetendency of errors varies depending on combinations of a drive and amedium. Further, even with a combination of the same drive and medium,the occurrence tendency of errors may vary depending on a type of anexecuted operation or an environment of the drive at the time ofexecution.

In view of this, in order to check over the occurrence tendency oferrors, some type of tape drive stores information of error histories ofeach cartridge which the drive has used recently in a nonvolatile memoryin the drive, which error histories are at the time of the use when thedrive used each cartridge. In the present specification, the informationof error histories related to this drive is referred to as “drive errorinformation”. Further, in a cartridge of the tape drive, information oferror histories at the time of use of the cartridge is recorded andstored in a tape medium in the cartridge for each drive that has usedthe cartridge recently. In the present specification, information oferror histories related to this cartridge is referred to as “cartridgeerror information.” When a cartridge is loaded in a drive, cartridgeerror information is read out from a tape medium in the cartridge into arandom access memory (RAM) in the drive so as to be referred to orupdated by firmware of the drive. Then, when the cartridge is unloadedfrom the drive, the cartridge error information is written back into thetape medium in the cartridge from the RAM it the drive.

For example, in a case where an error occurs when a cartridge Ca is usedin a drive Da, the drive Da can know an error rate at the time of use ofthe cartridge Ca from its drive error information. As a result, if amean value of error rates about the cartridge Ca is higher than meanvalues of error rates about all cartridges, it can be judged that acombination of the drive Da with the cartridge Ca is bad.

However, it is difficult to judge by merely drive error information ofthe drive Da whether errors have occurred because of poor quality of thedrive, error have occurred because of poor quality of the cartridge, orerrors have accidentally occurred at that time because of anotherfactor.

Here, if pieces of drive error information of other drives Db and Dc andpieces of cartridge error information of others cartridge Cb and Cc canbe obtained, the number of parameters of data to be used for judgmentwill increase. As a result, it is possible to judge more accuratelywhich is more likely to have poor quality, the drive or the cartridge.

Conventionally, in order to generally judge an error factor based onpieces of error information held by a plurality of drives or a pluralityof media, special software prepared outside those drives or a structurefor collecting pieces of error information of a library using thosedrives are used.

Further, as well as the judgment of the error factor, in a case wherejudgment on errors such as judgment on an area on a medium where errorsare easy to occur, a recovery method at the time when an error occurs,and the like is performed based on pieces of error information held by aplurality of drives or a plurality of media, special software providedoutside, the drives or a structure for collecting pieces of errorinformation of a library have been used.

Note that it has been known that a library collects information fromeach drive, as a technique disclosed patent application publications(for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

In the technique of Patent Document 1, a library includes MIN which isconnected to CAS and DEE of an import/export apparatus, DM of arecording/playback apparatus, and ADR, AMC, and CSV of a controlapparatus so as to collect trace information of each MPU provided ineach of them and to store the trace information in a trace informationstorage apparatus.

In the technique of Patent Document 2, a memory-information readingprocessing section of a magnetic tape library apparatus readsinformation related to reading of data or writing of data which themagnetic tape drive apparatus has performed on a magnetic tapecartridge, from a memory of the magnetic tape cartridge which includesan electromagnetic tape, and a maintenance/replacement judging sectionperforms judgment on maintenance or replacement of the magnetic tapedrive apparatus based on the information thus read.

[Patent Document 1]

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-224450

[Patent Document 2]

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-164445

SUMMARY

An illustrative embodiment provides an apparatus, in a first drive fordriving a removable medium, for performing a process for the removablemedium, which apparatus includes: a drive interface in the first driveconfigured to communicate with one or more other drives and acontroller. The controller is configured to receive, from the one ormore other drives via the drive interface, pieces of error informationabout errors that had occurred in the one or more other drives;determining whether an error occurring in a particular removable mediumdriven by the first drive is attributable to the first drive or to theparticular removable medium based on the pieces of error informationreceived from the at least one other drive; and generating an errorreport for the particular removable medium based on a result of thedetermination.

Further, yet another illustrative embodiment provides a system includinga plurality of drives each for driving a removable medium, wherein theplurality of drives are connected with each other via a communicationline, and each of the plurality of drives includes: an acquisitionsection for acquiring error information about errors which had occurredbefore in the drive itself or errors which had occurred before in aremoval medium; and a transmitting section for transmitting, to otherdrives via the communication line, the error information acquired by theacquisition section; a receiving section for receiving, via thecommunication line, the error information transmitted from other drives;a judging section for making a judgment on an error occurring in aparticular removable medium driven by the drive itself, with the use ofthe error information received by the receiving section; and aprocessing section for performing the process for the particularremovable medium based on a result of the judgment by the judgingsection.

Further, yet another embodiment provides a method for performing, in afirst drive for driving a removable medium, a process for the removablemedium, the method comprising: receiving, from other drives, pieces oferror information about errors that had occurred in the one or moreother drives; determining whether an error occurring in a particularremovable medium driven by the first drive is attributable to the firstdrive or to the particular removable medium based on the pieces of errorinformation received from the one or more other drives; and generatingan error report for the particular removable medium based on a result ofthe determination.

Furthermore, still another embodiment provides a computer programproduct for causing a computer to function as an apparatus, in a firstdrive for driving a removable medium, for performing a process for theremovable medium, the computer program product comprising a computerreadable storage medium having a computer readable program storedtherein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on acomputing device, causes the computing device to: receive, from otherdrives, pieces of error information about errors that had occurred inthe one or more other drives; determine whether an error occurring in aparticular removable medium driven by the first drive is attributable tothe first drive or to the particular removable medium based on thepieces of error information received, from the one or more other drives;and generating an error report for the particular removable medium basedon a result of the determination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1C are views to explain judging an error factor in accordancewith an example embodiment;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are vies to explain judging an error factor inaccordance with an example embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of alibrary system in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of atape drive in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of afunction of a controller in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an exemplary operation of a controller inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a content of an error-factor judgmentprocess executed by a controller in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, with reference to attached drawings, an embodiment of thepresent invention is described in detail.

First of all, in one example embodiment, drive error information andcartridge error information each retain 100 histories, and each of thehistories includes values of 30 or more types of counters recordedtherein.

Various methods are considered as a method for estimating an errorfactor with the use of these counters.

The following describes a difference between a case where an errorfactor is estimated only by using drive error information and cartridgeerror information retained by one drive and a case where an error factoris estimated by using pieces of drive error information and pieces ofcartridge error information retained by a plurality of drives, by takingas an example a technique using a mean value, which is one of thesimplest and easiest techniques.

Note that, in the following description, in order to simplify the pointof view of this technique, it is assumed that drive error informationand cartridge error information each retain ten histories.

Further, counters recorded in drive error information and cartridgeerror information are simplified, so that there are only four countersas follows: the number of errors of reading (the number of readouterrors); the number of errors of writing (the number of writing errors);the number of data sets which are read out (the number of readout datasets); and the number of data sets which are written (the number ofwritten data sets). Here, a data set is a logically smallest unit whendata is recorded in a tape, and the size thereof may fixed toapproximately 1.6 MB, for example.

First, the following describes a case where drive error information andcartridge error information which one drive has are used.

Herein, assume a small-sized library including three drives Da, Db, andDc and fifteen cartridges Ca, Cb, Cc, . . . , Co.

Now, supposing that the cartridge Ca is loaded in the drive Da and anerror occurs while the drive Da writes data in the cartridge Ca, it isjudged whether the error is attributable to the drive or the medium.

For example, it is assumed that the present situation of the drive Da isone as shown in FIG. 1A, drive error information of the drive Da is oneas shown in FIG. 1B, and cartridge error information of the cartridge Cais one as shown in FIG. 1C.

Note that, in FIGS. 1A-1C, the table cells surrounded by thick linesindicate values calculated from a current error counting, a counter ofthe drive error information of the drive Da, and a counter of thecartridge error information of the cartridge Ca.

Further, among columns of the “number of errors,” a value shown in a“Read” column indicates the number of readout errors, and a value shownin a “Write” column indicates the number of writing errors. In themeantime, among columns of the “number of data sets,” a value shown in a“Read” column indicates the number of readout data sets, and a valueshown a “Write” column indicates the number of written data sets.Further, among columns of the “number of data sets between errors,” avalue shown in a “Read”column is referred to as the number of readoutdata sets between errors, and a value shown in a “Write” column isreferred to as the number of written data sets between errors. Here, the“number of readout data sets between errors” means the “number ofreadout data sets per single error,” and the “number of written datasets between errors” means the “number of written data sets per singleerror.”

The number of written data sets between errors of FIG. 1A is smallerthan mean values (shown in the bottom columns) of the numbers of writtendata sets between errors of FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C, and thus it is foundthat the present situation of the drive Da is bad. However, it is onlydata of the drive Da and data of the cartridge Ca that are used herein,and without comparing with pieces of data of other drives or cartridges,it cannot be said that the drive Da has poor quality.

That is, it is difficult to judge whether errors have occurred becausethe cartridge Ca is used in the drive Da, or errors have accidentallyoccurred several times due to other factors.

Subsequently, the following describes a case where pieces of drive errorinformation and pieces of cartridge error information, which a pluralityof drives have, are used.

In a case where pieces of drive error information and pieces ofcartridge error information are collected from a plurality of drives,the mean value of drive error information as shown in FIG. 1B can befound about other drives.

It is assumed that respective mean values of the numbers of written datasets between errors, collected from the drives Da, Db, and Dc, are asshown in FIG. 2A.

Further, it is assumed that the cartridges Ca, Cb, and Cc are usedrespectively in the drives Da, Db, and Dc, and mean values of thenumbers of written data sets between errors in the respectivecartridges, collected from the respective drives Da, Db, and Dc, are asshown in FIG. 2B.

In this case, the number of written data sets between errors in thedrive Da is smaller than those of the drives Db and Dc, whereas there isno large difference found between the respective numbers of written datasets between errors in the cartridges Ca, Cb, and Cc. From this, it canhe estimated that errors have occurred due to poor quality of the driveDa. For example, in a case where a difference between the number ofwritten data sets between errors in the drive Da and the mean value ofthe respective numbers of written data sets between errors in the drivesDa, Db, and Dc exceeds a predetermined threshold value, but a differencebetween the number of written data sets between errors in the cartridgeCa and the mean value of the respective numbers of written data setsbetween errors in the cartridges Ca, Cb, and Cc does not exceed apredetermined threshold value, it may be judged that the drive Da haspoor quality. If this is viewed more widely, it may be said that it isjudged whether errors are attributable to the drive Da or the cartridgeCa by comparing an error occurrence situation to be obtained from errorinformation of the drive Da and pieces of error information of thedrives Db and Dc, with an error occurrence situation to be obtained fromerror information of the cartridge Ca and pieces of error information ofthe cartridges Cb and Cc.

Thus, with the use of a plurality of pieces of e or information, it ispossible to estimate the factor of an error with higher accuracy.

Note that this explanation shows a method using simple mean values oferror rates as a very simple example. In a case where many cartridgesand drives are used under substantially uniform terms of use for a longtime, such a method using mean values can arrive at a sufficientlyeffective result. However, in practice, it is desirable to adopt a moreeffective analytical method which takes into consideration used hours ofeach drive and preference of a cartridge used by each drive.

Further, the present embodiment does not relate to a method forestimating an error factor by using a plurality of pieces of drive errorinformation and cartridge error information with higher accuracy than amethod of estimating an error factor by using only drive errorinformation and cartridge error information of a single drive, butelates to a method for collecting a plurality of pieces of drive errorinformation and cartridge error information, on the premise of the abovemethod. In view of this, about the effects obtained by using a pluralityof pieces of drive error information and cartridge error information,only a simple example is given.

Incidentally, example methods which have been considered as a method forcollecting pieces of error information from a plurality of drives so farinclude: a method in which a library using drives collects errorinformation from each of the drive; and a method in which a programexecuted in an external server attached to a host collects errorinformation from each drive.

However, since the former method premises that the library includes afunction to collect error information, the method cannot be employed inthose libraries manufactured by other companies which do not includesuch a function or drives which are not provided in libraries. Further,in the latter method, it is necessary to use a tool which collects errorinform (or the like of a drive via an external resource, e.g., alibrary, and analyzes the error information or the like.

Further, these methods have such a problem that levels of detail oferror reports from individual drives do not increase. As a result, it isnecessary to make an overall judgment about an error factor on a side ofreceiving an error report after receiving the error report from a drive,which makes it difficult to take action quickly in accordance with theerror report.

In view of this, in the present embodiment, a drive acquires pieces oferror information from other drives via a communication line.Accordingly, if the drives are connected with each other via thecommunication line, no library or external server is required. Further,a report method of an error factor is the same as a report method (sensedata and tape alert) of errors in existing drives, so that it is notnecessary to add or change an interface for a host or a library.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary configuration of alibrary system in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. Note thatthe present invention is applicable to any removable media, but here, atape medium (hereinafter just referred to as a “tape”) is taken as anexample for explanation.

As illustrated in the figure, the library system includes a libraryapparatus 40, a host 50, and a Fibre Channel (FC) switch 51.

The library apparatus 40 includes tape drives 10 ₁, 10 ₂, . . . , 10_(N). When a cartridge stored in a storage cell (not shown) is taken outby an accessor (not shown) and is loaded, the tape drives 10 ₁, 10 ₂, .. . 10 _(N) perform writing of data on a tape in the cartridge orreadout of data from the tape in the cartridge. Further, the tape drives10 ₁, 10 ₂, . . . , 10 _(N) are each connected to the FC switch 51 viacommunication lines 60 ₁, 60 ₂, . . . , 60 _(N), and the FC switch 51 isconnected to the host 50 via a communication line 61, A command and datato be written is sent to a tape drive 10 _(K) from the host 50 via thecommunication line 61, the FC switch 51, and a communication line 60_(K), and readout data and :process result are sent from the tape drive10 _(K) to the host 50 via the communication line 60 _(K), the FC switch51, and the communication line 61 (k=1, 2, . . . , N). Here, as thecommunication lines 60 ₁, 60 ₂, . . . , 60 _(N), and 61, Fibre Channelmay be used. Note that in the present specification, when the tapedrives 10 ₁, 10 ₂, . . . , 10 _(N) are not distinguished from eachother, they are expressed as a tape drive 10, and when the communicationlines 60 ₁, 60 ₂, . . . , 60 _(N) are not distinguished from each other,they are expressed as a communication line 60.

Further, the library apparatus 40 includes a library controller 41. Thelibrary controller 41 performs a process of managing each tape drive 10,for example, a process of updating firmware to be used in each tapedrive 10, a process of setting time of each tape drive 10 and the likeprocess, Further, the library controller 41 is connected to the host 50via a communication line 62. To the library controller 41, for example,update information of the firmware to be used in each tape drive 10,information of time to be set in each tape drive 10, and the like aresent from the host 50 via the communication line 62. Here, as thecommunication line 62. Ethernet may be used, for example,

In addition, in the present embodiment, the library controller 41 andthe tape drives 10 ₁, 10 ₂, . . . , 10 _(N) are mutually connected toeach other via a communication line 70, and each tape drive 10 isadapted to be able to acquire error information from the other tapedrives 10. Here, as the communication line 70, Ethernet may be used, forexample.

The host 50 is a computer device which transmits to a tape drive 10various commands for controlling an operation of the tape drive 10 anddata to be written in a tape thereof and which receives from a tapedrive 10 data read out from a tape and results of processing on the tapeso as to perform processing thereon.

The FC switch 51 is a switch for connecting a plurality of drives havingFibre Channel interfaces to the host 50, and a communication line 60 isswitched to another so that a tape drive 10 specified by the host 50 isconnected to the host 50.

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating an exemplary configuration of a tape drive10 illustrated in FIG. 3 in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

As illustrated in the figure, the tape drive 10 includes a hostinterface (hereinafter referred to as a “host I/F”) 11, a buffer 12, arecording channel 13, a head 14, and a motor 15. The tape drive 10further includes a controller 30, ahead-position control system 16, amotor driver 17, a drive interface (hereinafter referred to as a “driveI/F”) 18, and an information memory 19, Further, a cartridge 20 can beloaded to the tape drive 10 by inserting therein, and therefore thecartridge 20 is also illustrated in the figure. This cartridge 20includes a tape 23 wound around reels 21 and 22. The tape 23longitudinally moves in a direction from the reel 21 to the reel 22 or adirection from the reel 22 to the reel 21 along with rotations of thereels 21 and 22, Note that a magnetic tape is exemplified as the tape23, but other tape media other than magnetic tape may be usable.

The host I/F 11 communicates with the host 50, which is an example of ahigher-level apparatus, via the communication line 60, the FC switch 51,and the communication line 61. The host I/F 11 receives from the host50, for example, a command for writing data on the tape 23, a commandfor moving the tape 23 to an intended position, a command for readingout data from the tape 23, and a command (a synchronizing command) forforcibly writing data accumulated in the buffer 12 on the tape 23. Notethat the communication standards used by the host I/F 11 may be, forexample, small computer system interthce (SCSI). In a case where SCSI isused, a first command corresponds to a write command, a second commandcorresponds to a Locate command or a Space command, a third commandcorresponds to a Read command, and a fourth command corresponds to aWriteFM non-immediate command. Further, the host IX 11 returns to thehost 50 a response indicative of whether a process corresponding to sucha command has succeeded or failed.

The buffer 12 is a memory for accumulating data to be written on thetape 23 or data read out from the tape 23. The buffer 12 is constitutedby a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), for example. Further, thebuffer 12 is constituted by a plurality of buffer segments each storinga data set, which is a unit for writing data on or reading data from thetape 23. The recording channel 13 is a communication path used forsending to the head 14 data to be written on the tape 23 or receivingfrom the head 14 data read out from the tape 23.

The head 14 writes information on the tape 23 or reads out informationfrom the tape 23 when the tape 23 moves in the longitudinal direction.

The motor 15 rotates the reels 21 and 22. Note that the motor 15 isrepresented by one rectangular shape in the figure, but it is preferablethat two motors 15 in total be provided such that one is for the reel 21and the other one is for the reel 22.

The controller 30 controls the tape drive 10 as a whole. For example,the controller 30 controls the writing of data on the tape 23 or thereadout of data from the tape 23 in accordance with a command received,by the host I/F 11. Further, the controller 30 also controls thehead-position control system 16 and the motor driver 17. Furthermore,the controller 30 controls transmission of error information stored, inthe information memory 19 to other tape drives 10, reception of piecesof error information from other tape drives 10, and execution ofprocesses based on error information stored in the information memory 19and pieces of error information received from other tape drives 10.

The head-position control system 16 is a system for tracking a desiredone or more wraps. A “wrap” as provided herein refers to a group of aplurality of tracks on the tape 23. When it is necessary for a wrap tobe changed to another one, it is also necessary for the head 14 to beelectrically changed as well. Such a change is controlled by thehead-position control system 16.

The motor driver 17 drives the motor 15. Note that, if two motors 15 areused as described above, two motor drivers 17 may be provided as well.

The drive I/F 18 communicates with other tape drives 10 via thecommunication line 70. For example, by sending a request to other tapedrives 10, the drive I/F 18 receives pieces of error information storedin these other tape drives 10. Further, in response to a request fromanother tape drive 10, the drive I/F 18 transmits thereto errorinformation stored in the information memory 19.

The information memory 19 is a memory for storing error information tobe kept in this tape drive 10. For example, the information memory 19 isconstituted by a nonvolatile memory.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating an exemplary configuration of a functionof the controller 30 illustrated in FIG. 4 in accordance with anillustrative embodiment.

As illustrated in the figure, the controller 30 includes an errordetecting section 31, an error recovery section 32, and an error-reportgeneration section 33. The controller 30 further includes anerror-information acquisition section 34, an error-information exchangesection 35, an error-information storage section 36, and an error-factorjudging section 37. The controller 30 still further includes anerror-report update section 38 and an error-report output section 39.

The error detecting section 31 detects an error occurring at the timewhen data is written on the tape 23 or read out from the tape 23.

The error recovery section 32 performs an error recovery procedure onthe error detected by the error detecting section 31, and if the erroris not recovered, the error recovery section 32 passes the control tothe error-report generation section 33. In the present embodiment, theerror recovery section 32 is provided as an example of a recoverysection for recovering errors.

In a case where the error is not recovered even after the error recoverysection 32 performs the error recovery procedure, the error-reportgeneration section 33 generates an error report so as to report acontent of the error to the host 50. In the present embodiment, an errorreport is used as an example of a message for reporting that an errorhas occurred, and the error-report generation section 33 is provided asan example of a generation section for generating the message.

The error-information acquisition section 34 acquires error informationfrom the information memory 19, and stores the error information in theerror-information storage section 36. Here, the error informationacquired by the error-information acquisition section 34 includes: driveerror information on errors that had occurred before in this tape drive10; and cartridge error information on errors that had occurred beforein the tape 23 within the cartridge 20 loaded in the tape drive 10. Inthe present embodiment, the drive error information on the tape drive 10is used as an example of first error information, and the cartridgeerror information on the cartridge 20 loaded in the tape drive 10 isused as an example of second error information. Further, theerror-information acquisition section 34 is provided as an example of anacquisition section for acquiring error information, and an acquisitionsection for acquiring the first error information and the second errorinformation.

The error-information exchange section 35 outputs IP addresses andacquisition requests to the drive I/F 18 so that acquisition requests oferror information are transmitted to other tape drives 10 havingpredetermined IP addresses. Further, the error-information exchangesection 35 acquires pieces of error information received by the driveI/F 18 from those other tape drives 10 and stores the pieces of errorinformation in the error-information storage section 36. Here, thepieces of error information acquired by the error-information exchangesection 35 include: pieces of drive error information on errors that hadoccurred before in other tape drives 10; and pieces of cartridge errorinformation on errors that had occurred before in tapes 23 withincartridges 20 loaded in those other tape drives 10. Further, when thedrive I/F 18 receives an acquisition request of error information fromanother tape drive 10, the error-information exchange section 35 outputserror information stored in the information memory 19 to the drive I/F18 so that the error information is transmitted to the another tapedrive 10. In the present embodiment, the pieces of drive errorinformation on other tape drives 10 are used as an example of thirderror information, and the pieces of cartridge error information on thecartridges 20 loaded in those other tape drives 10 are used as anexample of fourth error information. Further, the error-informationexchange section 35 is provided as an example of a receiving section forreceiving error information, a receiving section for receiving the thirderror information and the fourth error information, and a transmittingsection for transmitting error information.

The error-information storage section 36 stores drive error informationand cartridge error information acquired by the error-informationacquisition section 31 from the information memory 19, and pieces ofdrive error information and cartridge error information acquired by theerror-information exchange section 35 from other tape drives 10.

The error-factor judging section 37 judges the factor of an error basedon a plurality of pieces of drive error information and a plurality ofpieces of cartridge error information stored in the error-informationstorage section 36. More specifically, the error-factor judging section37 judges whether the error is attributable to the tape drive 10 or thetape 23 in the cartridge 20 loaded in this tap drive 10. In the presentembodiment, the error-factor judging section 37 is provided as anexample of a judging section for making a judgment on errors, and ajudging section for judging whether an error that has occurred in aparticular removable medium is attributable to its own drive or theparticular removable medium.

The error-report update section 38 updates an error report generated bythe error-report generation section 33 with information indicative of anerror factor judged by the error-factor judging section 37. Morespecifically, the error-report update section 38 adds to the errorreport, information indicative of whether the error is attributable tothe tape drive 10 or the tape 23 in the cartridge 20 loaded in this tapedrive 10. In the present embodiment, the error-report update section 38is provided as an example of a processing section for performing aprocess for a particular removable medium, and an addition section foradding, to a message, information indicative of whether an error isattributable to its own drive or a particular removable medium.

The error-report output section 39 outputs an error report to the hostI/F 11 so that the error report updated by the error-report updatesection 38 is transmitted to the host 50. In the present embodiment, theerror-report output section 39 is provided as an example of atransmitting section for transmitting a message to a higher-levelapparatus.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an exemplary operation of the controller30 illustrated in FIG. 5 in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

As shown in the figure, in the controller 30, the error detectingsection 31 initially judges whether or not an error has been detectedwhen data is written on the tape 23 or data is read out from the tape23, for example, based on information obtained from the recordingchannel 13 (Step 301). Here, if it is judged that no error has beendetected, the process of Step 301 is repeated, and if it is judged thatan error has been detected, the error recovery section 32 performs anerror recovery procedure to recover the error (Step 302).

Then, the error recovery section 32 judges whether or not the error hasbeen recovered (Step 303).

If it is judged that the error has been recovered as a result thereof,it is not necessary to transmit an error report to the host 50, andaccordingly the process is just finished.

On the other hand, if it is judged that the error has not beenrecovered, the following steps are performed to transmit an error reportto the host 50.

That is, the error-report generation section 33 initially generates aconventional error report to report the occurrence of the error to thehost 50 (Step 304).

Then, the error-information acquisition section 34, theerror-information exchange section 35, and the error-factor judgingsection 37 perform an error-factor judgment process (Step 305). Morespecifically, a process of judging whether the error is attributable tothe tape drive 10 or the tape 23 is performed.

Subsequently, when the error-factor judgment process is performednormally, the error-report update section 38 updates the error reportgenerated by the error-report generation section 33 based on a result ofthe error-factor judgment process (Step 306). More specifically, theerror-report update section 38 reflects the result of the error-factorjudgment process on the error report generated by the error-reportgeneration section 33. For example, the error-report update section 38adds information indicative of poor quality of the tape drive 10 orinformation indicative of poor quality of the tape 23 to conventionaldata indicative of a content of the error, such as sense data or tapealert. Thus, by reflecting a total analysis result on the content of theerror to be reported, it is possible to report highly accurate errorcontent. This is a function that can be implemented by performinganalysis using pieces of error information of other tape drives 10,within a tape drive 10 of which an error is to be reported.

After that, the error-report output section 39 outputs the error reportto the host L/F 11, and instructs the host I/F 11 to transmit the errorreport to the host 50 (Step 307). Hereby, the error report is sent tothe host 50, so that the host 50 or a user can know whether the tapedrive 10 has a problem or the tape 23 has a problem based on the errorreport from the tape drive 10.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an exemplary operation of the error-factorjudgment process in Step 305 of FIG. 6 in accordance with anillustrative embodiment.

In this error-factor judgment process, as shown in the figure, theerror-information acquisition section 34 initially acquires drive errorinformation and cartridge error information stored in the informationmemory 19 and stores them in the error-information storage section 36(Step 351).

Then, the error-information exchange section 35 performs a process ofreceiving pieces of drive error information and pieces of cartridgeerror information kept in other tape drives 10.

That is, the error-information exchange section 35 initially acquires IPaddresses of other tape drives 10 of which error information is to beexchanged (Step 352). Here, the IP addresses of those other tape drives10 of which error information is to be exchanged are registered andstored in a nonvolatile memory (not show at the time of setup of thetape drive 10.

Then, the error-information exchange section 35 outputs an acquisitionrequest of drive error information and cartridge error information tothe drive I/F 18, and instructs the drive I/F 18 to transmit theacquisition request of these pieces of error information to tape drives10 having the IP addresses acquired in Step 352 (Step 353). In otherwords, when it is necessary to transmit an error report to the host 50,the tape drive 10 requests other tape drives 10 which are registeredtherein in advance to send their pieces of drive error information andcartridge error information, before the tape drive 10 transmits an errorreport to the host 50. In each of those other tape drives 10 which havereceived the request, an error-information acquisition section 34acquires drive error information and cartridge error information whichthe each of those other tape drives 10 stores in its information memory19, and an error-information exchange section 35 outputs these pieces oferror information to a drive I/F 18 and instructs the drive I/F 18 totransmit these pieces of error-information to the tape drive 10 as asource of the request. Thus, in those other tape drives 10, their driveI/F 18 transmit their respective pieces of drive error information andcartridge error information to the tape drive 10 as the source of therequest.

On the other hand, in the tape drive 10 as the source of the request,the error-information exchange section 35 instructs the drive I/F 18 toreceive the respective pieces of drive error information and cartridgeerror information from those other tape drives 10 (Step 354).

Then, the error-information exchange section 35 judges whether or notthe drive I/F 18 has received the pieces of drive error information andcartridge error information from those other tape drives 10 (Step 355).

If it is judged that the drive I/F 18 has not received these pieces oferror information as a result thereof, the process returns to theprocess in FIG. 6 with information indicating that the error-factorjudgment process have not been performed normally being taken as areturn value. On the other hand, if it is judged that the drive I/F 18has received these pieces of error information, the error-informationexchange section 35 stores these pieces of drive error information andcartridge error information in the error-information storage section 36(Step 356).

Note that such exchange of error information may be performed with theuse of a special protocol, but may be also performed with the use ofexisting protocols such as tftp (Trivial File Transfer Protocol).

Further, generally, an error recovery procedure is performed every tenseconds when the tape drive 10 reports an error, but time to benecessary to acquire error information is sufficiently smaller thanthis. Accordingly, the influence of acquisition of error informationgiven to a performance can be ignored.

Thereafter, the error-information exchange section 35 judges whethererror information has been received from a tape drive 10 having the lastIP address registered in the nonvolatile memory (not shown) (Step 357).If it is judged that the error information has not been received fromthe tape drive 10 having the last IP address, the process returns toStep 352, but if it is judged that the error information has beenreceived from the tape drive 10 having the last IP address, theerror-factor judging section 37 performs calculation to judge an errorfactor (Step 358). More specifically, the error-factor judging section37 performs, for example, calculation as explained with reference toFIG. 1A-1C and FIGS. 2A and 2B so as to judge whether the tape drive 10has a problem or the tape 23 has a problem. That is, the error-factorjudging section 37 calculates a mean value of the numbers of data setsbetween errors in this tape drive 10, and if this mean value is smallerthan a mean value of the numbers of data sets between errors in othertape drives 10, the error-factor judging section 37 judges that thistape drive 10 has a problem. Further, the error-factor judging section37 calculates a mean value of the numbers of data sets between errors inthe tape 23 used in this tape drive 10, and if this mean value issmaller than a mean value of the numbers of data sets between errors inother tapes 23, the error-factor judging section 37 judges that the tape23 used in this tape drive 10 has a problem.

Thus, in the present embodiment, the tape drive 10 itself is configuredto acquire pieces of drive error information and cartridge errorinformation from other tape drives 10 and to judge an error factor withthe use of these pieces of error information. That is, the tape drive 10of which an error factor is judged is configured such that, at a pointwhen it is necessary to judge the error factor, the tape drive 10 sendsa request of drive error information and cartridge error information toa plurality of tape drives 10 to which the above tape drive 10 isconnected, and acquires pieces of drive error information and cartridgeerror information held in those tape drives 10 at that point.

This makes it possible to judge an error factor with higher accuracywith the use of a plurality of pieces of drive error information and aplurality of pieces of cartridge error information, only by using afunction of the tape drive 10 without preparing functions of specialsoftware and a library outside the tap drive 10.

Further, conventionally, the tape drive 10 transmits an error report toan external server or the like so that the external server or the likemakes a total judgment by collecting and analyzing a content of theerror report. In contrast, in the present embodiment, at a point whenthe tape drive 10 transmits an error report, it is possible to report amore accurate error content with the use of pieces of error informationfrom other tape drives 10.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, since data is directly exchangedbetween tape drives 10, no change is required in an interface for theoutside of each tape drive 10, including currently-used hosts 50 andlibraries.

The above explanation deals with a case where the error-informationexchange section 35 exchanges drive error information and cartridgeerror information as error information, but the present invention is notlimited to this. Instead of the drive error information and cartridgeerror information, error information called a “tape map” may beexchanged.

Here, a tape map is a map in which a whole area on a tape 23 is dividedinto small partitions with wraps and regions so as to successivelyrecord what kind of error has occurred in each of the partitions. Thetape map is one of constituents of a “dump file” output by the tapedrive 10. Further, information of the tape map is accumulated in amemory in the tape drive 10, but not recorded in the tape 23.

Note that a wrap is a one-way path running from one end of a tape 23 tothe other end thereof in a linear tape drive for recording data byreciprocating on the tape 23 many times. For example, a tape in whichdata is recorded by reciprocating 40 times has 80 wraps.

Further, a region is one partition obtained by dividing one wrap intosmall pieces.

In a case where one wrap is divided into 128 regions in the aboveexemplified tape, 80×128 partitions can be defined on the tape. Thus,from a wrap number and a region number, a physical position of eachpartition on the tape 23 can be calculated.

Now, it is conceivable that information of a tape map is cleared at apoint when another cartridge 20 is loaded, but here, it is assumed thata cartridge number and a combination of a wrap and a region where atemporary error or a permanent error has occurred are recorded in amemory of the tape drive 10. In this case, a cartridge number, an errortype, a wrap number, a region number, a recovery method and the like maybe conceivable as data to be recorded. Among them, for example, an FSC(Failure Symptom Code) in the tape drive 10 may be preferably used asthe error type, and an ERP (Error Recovery Procedure) method number maybe preferably used as the recovery method. Note that when the recoverymethod is expressed as “Unavailable,” it is taken that the error has notbeen able to be recovered, that is, it is taken that a permanent errorhas occurred,

Further, in data to be recorded in a memory of such a tape drive 10, itis possible to record, per single cartridge number, several pieces ofinformation in which the error type, the wrap number, the region number,the recovery method, and the like are associated with each other.

Herein, this information is referred to as TMEI (Tape Map ErrorInformation). In a case where an error occurs in a given tape drive 10when a given cartridge 20 is used, the given tape drive 10 inquiresother tape drives 10 about whether they have TMEI of the given cartridge20 or not. Then, if these other tape drivers 10 have TMEI of thecartridge 20, they send their respective pieces of TMEI to the giventape drive 10 as a source of the request. Hereby, the given tape drive10 as the source of the request refers to the pieces TMEI received fromthose other tape drives 10, and if some of the pieces of TMEI suggestthe occurrence of errors in the same partition, it is judged that thereare some defects in that partition of the tape 23 in this cartridge 20.More generally speaking, assume a case where, among a plurality ofpieces of area information (for example, wrap numbers and region numbersin a plurality of pieces of TMEI), given number of pieces of areainformation which satisfies a predetermined standard (for example, thenumber exceeding a predetermined ratio) indicate a particular area. Inthis case, a judging section (not shown) judges that the particular areais an area which may have a defect.

In a case where there is only information of a single tape drive 10,even if an error has occurred in a particular partition, the possibilitythat the error is attributable to the tape drive 10 cannot be removed.In contrast, when it is checked that errors had occurred at the samelocation when the tape 23 had been used in other tape drives 10, it ishighly possible that the tape 23 has some sort of problem.

In such a case, an additional test is performed in that particularpartition, so that a result thereof can be taken in analysis. Forexample, in a case where an error has occurred at the time of writingdata on the tape 23 or reading data from the tape 23 and an analysisresult suggests that a given area on the tape 23 might be damaged, thetape drive 10 itself attempts an access to the given area again. Thatis, a processing section (not show performs a process of attempting anaccess to the area. This makes it possible to further improve accuracyof the analysis result.

Further, since the tape drive 10 itself can acquire pieces of errorinformation of other tape drives 10, it is possible to predict an areawhere some problem may occur in advance by collecting these pieces oferror information before starting its operation. In the tape drive 10, aprocessing section (not shown) can perform a process of reporting, tothe host 50, information additionally including information indicativeof a presence of an area in which the problem is likely to occur, attiming before an error occurs, for example, at a time of loading thecartridge 20. Conceivable examples of such a process include: a processof reporting, as a free space on the tape 23, a capacity thereofexcluding a capacity of the area where the problem is likely to occur;and a process of reporting information to specify the area where theproblem is likely to occur.

Further, with the use of TMEI, it is possible to exchange not onlyinformation on permanent errors but also information on temporaryerrors. Here, a temporary error is an error which has occurred once buthas been able to be recovered by a recovery function of the tape drive10. Information on temporary errors can be exchanged by associationinformation, in TMEI, of a wrap number, a region number, and a recoverymethod. Consequently, it is possible to judge in advance what kind ofrecovery method had been effective in the area which had a problem,thereby making it possible to share this judgment result with aplurality of tape drives 10. More specifically, assume a case where,among a plurality of pieces of association information (for example,pieces of association information of a wrap number, a region number, anda recovery method in a plurality of pieces of TMEI), a given number ofpieces of association information which satisfies a predeterminedstandard (for example, the number exceeding a predetermined ratio) areinformation in which a particular area and a particular recoveryprocedure are associated. with each other. In this case, a judgingsection (not shown) judges that the particular recovery procedure iseffective to recover errors occurring in the particular area. If anerror occurs in the particular area, the processing section (not shown)performs a process of recovering the error in accordance with theparticular recovery procedure.

Some error recovery procedures take time to be performed. In view ofthis, by finding which error recovery procedure is effective in advance,it is possible to improve an operation performance in an area where aproblem may occur or to improve an occurrence rate of temporary errors.

Here, the present invention may be realized fully by hardware or fullysoftware. Further, the present invention can be realized by bothhardware and software. Furthermore, the present invention can berealized as a computer, a data-processing system, or a computer program.This computer program can be provided in such a manner that it is storedin a computer-readable medium. Here, conceivable examples of the mediuminclude electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system (apparatus or device), or a propagation medium.Further, examples of the computer-readable medium include asemiconductor, a solid state storage device, a magnetic tape, aremovable computer diskette, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-onlymemory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk, and an optical disk. Currentexamples of the optical disk include a compact disk read-only memory(CD-ROM), compact disk read/write (CD-R/W), and a DVD.

The present invention is described with the use of the embodiment asabove, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limitedto the above embodiment. It will be apparent to a person skilled in theart that various modifications may be made to the embodiment of thepresent invention or alternative embodiments may be employed withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

1. An apparatus, in a first drive for driving a removable medium, forperforming a process for the removable medium, the apparatus comprising:a drive interface in the first drive configured to communicate with oneor more other drives; and a controller, wherein the controller isconfigured to receive, from one or more other drives via the driveinterface, pieces of error information about errors that had occurred inthe at least one other drive; determining whether an error occurring ina particular removable medium driven by the first drive, is attributableto the first drive or to the particular removable medium based on thepieces of error information received from the at one or more otherdrives; and generating; an error report for the particular removablemedium based on a result of the determination.
 2. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to:acquire first error information indicative of a number of errors thathad occurred in the first drive, and second error information indicativeof a number of errors that had occurred in the particular removablemedium; receive, as the pieces of error information, third errorinformation indicative of a number of errors that had occurred in theone or more other drives, and fourth error information indicative of anumber of errors that had occurred in other removable media driven bythe one or more other drives; and determine whether an error that hasoccurred in the particular removable medium is attributable to the firstdrive or to the particular removable medium, by comparing an erroroccurrence situation obtained from the first error information and thethird error information with an error occurrence situation obtained fromthe second error information and the fourth error information.
 3. Theapparatus according to claim 2, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to: add information indicative of whether the error isattributable to the first drive or the particular removable medium, to amessage for reporting to a higher-level apparatus that the error hasoccurred in the particular removable medium.
 4. The apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to: receive, asthe pieces of error information, a plurality of pieces of areainformation indicative of areas where errors had occurred in theparticular removable medium; and in a case where, among the plurality ofpieces of area information, a given number of pieces of area informationthat satisfies a predetermined standard indicates a particular area,determine that the particular area is an area that is likely to have adefect.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the controller isfurther configured to: perform at least either one of the followingprocesses: a process of attempting an access to the particular area whenan error has occurred in the particular removable medium; or a processof reporting, to a higher-level apparatus, information indicative of apresence of the particular area.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the controller is further configured to: receive, as the piecesof error information, a plurality of pieces of association informationin which an area where an error had occurred in the particular removablemedium is associated with a recovery procedure used for recovering theerror; and in a case where, among the plurality of pieces of associationinformation, a given number of pieces of association information thatsatisfies a predetermined standard is information in which a particulararea is associated with a particular recovery procedure, determine thatthe particular recovery procedure is effective to recover errorsoccurring in the particular area.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 6,wherein the controller is further configured to: responsive to an erroroccurring in the particular area in the particular removable medium,perform a process of recovering the error in accordance with theparticular recovery procedure.
 8. (canceled)
 9. (canceled)
 10. A systemincluding a plurality of drives each for driving a removable medium,wherein: the plurality of drives are connected with each other via acommunication line, and each of the plurality of drives includes: anacquisition section for acquiring error information about errors whichhad occurred before in the drive itself or errors which had occurredbefore in a removal medium; a transmitting section for transmitting, toother drives via the communication line, the error information acquiredby the acquisition section; a receiving section for receiving, via thecommunication line, the error information transmitted from other drives;a judging section for making a judgment on an error occurring in aparticular removable medium driven by the drive itself, with the use ofthe error information received by the receiving section; and aprocessing section for performing a process for the particular removablemedium based on a result of the judgment by the judging section.
 11. Amethod for performing, in a first drive for driving a removable medium,a process for the removable medium, the method comprising: receiving,from one or more other drives, pieces of error information about errorsthat had occurred in the one or more other drives; determining whetheran error occurring in a particular removable medium driven by the firstdrive, is attributable to the first drive or to the particular removablemedium based on the pieces of error information received from the one ormore other drives; and generating an error report for the particularremovable medium based on a result of the determination.
 12. A computerprogram product for causing a computer to function as an apparatus, in afirst drive for driving a removable medium, for performing a process forthe removable medium, the computer program product comprising a computerreadable storage medium having a computer readable program storedtherein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on acomputing device, causes the computing device to: receive, from one ormore other drives, pieces of error information about errors that hadoccurred in the one or more other drives; determining whether an erroroccurring in a particular removable medium driven by the first drive, isattributable to the first drive or to the particular removable mediumbased on the pieces of error information received from the one or moreother drives; and generating an error report for the particularremovable medium based on a result of the determination.
 13. The methodaccording to claim 11, further comprising: acquiring first errorinformation indicative of a number of errors that had occurred in thefirst drive, and second error information indicative of a number oferrors that had occurred in the particular removable medium; receiving,as the pieces of error information, third error information indicativeof a number of errors that had occurred in the one or more other drives,and fourth error information indicative of a number of errors that hadoccurred in other removable media driven by the one or more otherdrives; and determining whether an error that has occurred in theparticular removable medium is attributable to the first drive or to theparticular removable medium, by comparing an error occurrence situationobtained from the first error information and the third errorinformation with an error occurrence situation obtained from the seconderror information and the fourth error information.
 14. The methodaccording to claim 13, further comprising: adding information indicativeof whether the error is attributable to the first drive or theparticular removable medium, to a message for reporting to ahigher-level apparatus that the error has occurred in the particularremovable medium.
 15. The method according to claim 11, furthercomprising: receiving, as the pieces of error information, a pluralityof pieces of area information indicative of areas where errors hadoccurred in the particular removable medium; and in a case where, amongthe plurality of pieces of area information, a given number of pieces ofarea information that satisfies a predetermined standard indicates aparticular area, determining that the particular area is an area that islikely to have a defect.
 16. The method according to claim 15, furthercomprising: performing at least either one of the following processes: aprocess of attempting an access to the particular area when an error hasoccurred in the particular removable medium; or a process of reporting,to a higher-level apparatus, information indicative of a presence of theparticular area.
 17. The method according to claim 11, furthercomprising: receiving, as the pieces of error information, a pluralityof pieces of association information in which an area where an error hadoccurred in the particular removable medium is associated with arecovery procedure used for recovering the error; and in a case where,among the plurality of pieces of association information, a given numberof pieces of association information that satisfies a predeterminedstandard is information in which a particular area is associated with aparticular recovery procedure, determining that the particular recoveryprocedure is effective to recover errors occurring in the particulararea.
 18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising:responsive to an error occurring in the particular area in theparticular removable medium, performing a process of recovering theerror in accordance with the particular recovery procedure.
 19. Thecomputer program product according to claim 12, wherein the computerreadable program further causes the computing device to: acquire firsterror information indicative of a number of errors that had occurred inthe first drive, and second error information indicative of a number oferrors that had occurred in the particular removable medium; receive, asthe pieces of error information, third error information indicative of anumber of errors that had occurred in the one or more other drives, andfourth error information indicative of a number of errors that hadoccurred in other removable media driven by the one or more otherdrives; and determine whether an error that has occurred in theparticular removable medium is attributable to the first drive or to theparticular removable medium, by comparing an error occurrence situationobtained from the first error information and the third errorinformation with an error occurrence situation obtained from the seconderror information and the fourth error information.
 20. The computerprogram product according to claim 19, wherein the computer readableprogram further causes the computing device to: add informationindicative of whether the error is attributable to the first drive orthe particular removable medium, to a message for reporting to ahigher-level apparatus that the error has occurred in the particularremovable medium.
 21. The computer program product according to claim12, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computingdevice to: receive, as the pieces of error information, a plurality ofpieces of area information indicative of areas where errors had occurredin the particular removable medium; and in a case where, among theplurality of pieces of area information, a given number of pieces ofarea information that satisfies a predetermined standard indicates aparticular area, determine that the particular area is an area that islikely to have a defect.
 22. The computer program product according toclaim 21, wherein the computer readable program further causes thecomputing device to: perform at least either one of the followingprocesses: a process of attempting an access to the particular area whenan error has occurred in the particular removable medium; or a processof reporting, to a higher-level apparatus, information indicative of apresence of the particular area.
 23. The computer program productaccording to claim 12, wherein the computer readable program furthercauses the computing device to: receive, as the pieces of errorinformation, a plurality of pieces of association information in whichan area where an error had occurred in the particular removable mediumis associated with a recovery procedure used for recovering the error;and in a case where, among the plurality of pieces of associationinformation, a given number of pieces of association information thatsatisfies a predetermined standard is information in which a particulararea is associated with a particular recovery procedure, determine thatthe particular recovery procedure is effective to recover errorsoccurring in the particular area.
 24. The computer program productaccording to claim 23, wherein the computer readable program furthercauses the computing device to: responsive to an error occurring in theparticular area in the particular removable medium, perform a process ofrecovering the error in accordance with the particular recoveryprocedure.